“CAB3 Could Allow Election Rigging Before A Single Vote Is Cast”

Human rights lawyer Doug Coltart has warned that proposed changes under Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 3 will give the President total control over elections, potentially allowing results to be rigged before a single vote is cast.

He warned that granting the President the power to appoint members of a new Zimbabwe Electoral Delimitation Commission would allow the executive to manipulate how electoral boundaries are drawn, dictating election outcomes well in advance.

“The liberation struggle ideal, one man, one vote, is under threat from Constitutional Amendment Number Three,” Coltart said

“It’s not simply because the constitutional amendment would abolish the presidential elections and give that power to Parliament, or even because Parliament is taking for itself a right it doesn’t have to extend its own mandate instead of getting one from the people. It’s much, much deeper than that,” he said.

According to Coltart, the proposed amendments increase presidential influence and control over the entire electoral process.

He argued that the Bill strips the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) of its responsibility for voter registration, handing it to the Registrar-General, while the drawing of constituency boundaries will be transferred from ZEC to a newly created body called the Zimbabwe Electoral Delimitation Commission.

Coltart said both the Registrar-General and the new delimitation commission would effectively fall under direct presidential control, as their leadership would be appointed solely by the Head of State.

Under Zimbabwe’s current constitutional framework, ZEC is mandated to handle the delimitation process.

Although ZEC has faced regular criticism from opposition parties and civil society over its management of elections, the current Constitution at least provides procedural safeguards to protect its independence.

Coltart explained that Section 237 of the Constitution outlines a public, multi-layered appointment process for ZEC commissioners.

“The position is advertised. We, the public, get to make nominations. The President can also make nominations. Those candidates then go through public interviews,” he said.

This process is managed by Parliament’s Committee on Standing Rules and Orders, which compiles a final shortlist for the President to appoint from.

“All of that is simply to say that the President’s power when it comes to the appointment of ZEC is somewhat constrained. He is not the only person who determines who becomes an electoral commissioner,” Coltart said.

He further contended that current ZEC commissioners enjoy constitutional protections, including strict procedures governing their removal from office.

“What that means is that once someone is appointed as a commissioner at ZEC, the Constitution provides them with safeguards to ensure they are able to exercise the independence required of them,” he said.

Sections 233 and 235 also establish principles of transparency, accountability, and independence for constitutional commissions like ZEC.

However, Coltart warned that these vital safeguards will completely vanish under the new arrangements proposed in Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 3.

“All of those things are taken away by Constitutional Amendment No.3 when it comes to voter registration and delimitation, because those institutional safeguards are not there when it comes to the Registrar General or this new delimitation commission, which are purely presidential appointees,” he said.

He stressed that the proposed delimitation commission would lack the constitutional protections and transparent appointment procedures that currently apply to ZEC.

“To understand the independence of the delimitation commission compared to that of ZEC, we need to go now to Clause 11 of the Amendment Bill,” he said.

Coltart explained that Clause 11 introduces a new constitutional provision, Section 159A, to establish the Zimbabwe Electoral Delimitation Commission.

“What you will see there is that it simply says, ‘the President shall appoint the Zimbabwe Electoral Delimitation Commission,’” he said.

“The key words there are ‘the President shall appoint.’ The clause vests absolute power in the President by himself, without your involvement that we have in ZEC, without Parliament’s involvement, without public consultations, without public interviews, without transparency.”

He asserted that this changes the entire democratic landscape by giving one individual unchecked authority over the officials responsible for drawing constituency boundaries.

“Now that we understand that and how much power the President has over this delimitation commission, we need to understand why delimitation is so important and how if you don’t have an independent delimitation commission, an election can be rigged before even a single vote is cast,” he said.

More: CITE